Five Million Hits- Reflections on Polio Surveillance

Monday, 12th of June 2017

Five Million Hits – Reflections on Polio Surveillance

Attentive readers will by now have noticed that this website has just gone over 5 million hits. Rather than celebrating, let us take a careful look at AFP surveillance, which is one key issue in the endgame of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and at environmental sampling for poliovirus.

AFP SURVEILLANCE

Were the AFP surveillance gaps identified last year in Northeast Nigeria the only ones of recent date? Where primary health care structures are especially fragile, as in DRC and the other states of central Africa, what will be the impact of declining budgets on AFP surveillance performance?

I am listing below, in descending order by page views, the most popular items on AFP surveillance to have appeared since 2010. As we witness the accelerated downsizing of GPEI funding, especially in nonendemic countries of Africa, we should look at possible chinks in the armor of AFP surveillance. Items 3, 5 and 9 may be of special interest.

ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEILLANCE

Students of polio virology in Egypt and Israel will be familiar with the important role played by environmental surveillance in those countries, among others, in detecting the presence of polio where AFP reports are negative. As the world approaches the new target for global certification of 2021, the expanding use of environmental surveillance will continue to serve as a complement to AFP surveillance. Items 3, 5, 7, and 8 may be of special interest.